LAKE KIOWA, TEXAS. Lake Kiowa, on Farm Road 902 seven miles southeast of Gainesville in east central Cooke County, was established in 1967. Within an hour's drive of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolis, Lake Kiowa quickly became a popular resort development for North Texas families. In the 1980s its 1,800 acres included the lake for which it was named (a private, 600-acre lake on Indian Creek), two sandy beaches, and an eighteen-hole golf course. At that time no businesses were allowed within the enclosed development, which was managed by a board of directors elected by the members of the property owners' association. In 1988 the community had 712 homes, about half of which were occupied year-round; the others were used primarily on weekends, holidays, and during the summer. The community is in the Callisburg school district. Its estimated population in 1989 was 1,500, and in 1990, some 1,200. By 2000 the population grew to 1,883.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Anice Rhodes, Lake Kiowa: The First Ten Years (Lake Kiowa Women's Club, 1978).

R. Jay Freeman